This invention concerns shipping containers for animals, e.g. laboratory animals such as mice, rats, and the like.
Laboratory animals are generally shipped from a supplier to a laboratory in shipping crates formed of cardboard and lined with wire mesh. For example, Charles River Laboratories regularly uses a cardboard box of about 241/2 inches .times. 161/2 inches .times. 51/2 inches held together by staples. Miller (U.S. Pat. No. 2,530,170) describes animals crates formed of paper and wire, with drainage openings in the bottom of the crate. Vorbeck (U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,649) and Ziller (U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,500) describe turtle crates having single gas-impermeable canopies and gas transfer membranes which allow air exchange but not bacterial or viral transfer. Sedlacek (U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,587 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,228) also describes cages having air filters.